Fire ants are killer insects. Where does this type of ant live and how does it differ from its relatives? External characteristics and distinctive features. Life cycle of insects, nutrition and development. Why is encountering ants dangerous for humans? What are the dangers for animals and livestock?
There are a large number of ant species that pose a danger to people and animals. These dangerous insects include fire ants. They belong to the genus Solenopsis, which has more than 200 species. An encounter with these insects can lead to serious consequences.
Description, appearance, features
Individuals of this species cannot boast of huge sizes; adult individuals grow up to 2-6 mm. An ant colony is a family that consists of several castes. Castes differ in the functions they perform and have some external differences. The body of adult insects consists of three parts: the head, abdomen and thorax.
They have 3 pairs of goosebumps and a pair of antennae. This species can be easily distinguished from any other due to its fairly bright coloring. Their abdomen and head are dark copper-brown; working individuals can have all shades from red to brown. You can see how they look in the photo.
What gives them a rather aggressive and threatening appearance are their strong jaws, which they use when attacking and attacking victims. In addition to their jaws, they have a sting, which inflicts very painful punctures.
When a sting is applied, formic acid is released, which provokes severe irritation and allergic reactions.
Red fire ant: description
Who are they, what do these little “monsters” look like? The appearance resembles an ordinary ant, the only difference between them is the color. Fire ants, the photo of which is in front of you, have a reddish color, hence their name. They also owe their name to their ability to burn during a bite.
These are small insects. Body length depends on external living conditions and is 2–6 mm. The body is divided into three main parts: head, chest, abdomen. The head and chest are lighter than the belly. Like other members of this family, red fire aggressors have six strong legs. Ants are classified as insects with complete metamorphosis. Their development consists of four stages: 1. Eggs. 2. Larva. 3. Doll. 4. Adult insect.
The larva resembles a helpless worm-like creature. She cannot move or feed on her own. It is served by working individuals until the larva, having gone through several stages of molting, gains the required mass to turn into a pupa. On the last day before metamorphosis occurs, the larva stops eating and empties its intestines. Working individuals take care of the pupa and, at the right time, help it leave the cocoon.
Behavior
They live in anthills, which are most often built in open areas. Anthills are mounds of soil on the surface of the earth. Their diet consists of young succulent plants and seeds.
They also attack insects and small animals, inflicting a bite with a stinger, they easily cope with their victims. They bring their victims to the anthill to feed those individuals that do not leave the territory, as well as to feed the offspring.
Regarding the solenopsin poison, which they secrete during an attack, it is deadly for insects and small animals. If an ant attacks a person, the poison causes very painful sensations, very similar to a burn. The effect on the human body is individual, but sensitive people tolerate its effects very hard, in some cases it can lead to death.
They are among the most aggressive insects, relative to ants of other species, and they easily displace them from territories.
They adapt very well to new conditions and can easily tolerate frosts.
Some facts from history
Initially, these dangerous insects occupied Brazil, which is considered their homeland. In 1900, when the cattle trade began to improve, dangerous invaders settled in the United States. This “live” cargo with harmful insects was on merchant ships, which transported it by sea to a new habitat.
Fire ants quickly began to multiply in countless numbers. There were no natural enemies here, the climate was quite suitable to feel comfortable - this is a great success for harmful insects, it would be a sin not to take advantage of it. The ants moved further into California, occupying more and more territories.
If by the beginning of the 20th century the most dangerous ants in the world were limited only to the territory of South America, now they are found in Mexico, in the southern part of America, and on the islands of the Caribbean. The habitat of fire ants has become the lands of Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and China.
Fiery creatures inflicted merciless bites on farmers, wild and domestic animals. They besieged agricultural lands and buildings and destroyed grain reserves. They erected their anthills on the tracks where the mowers should pass. All this undermined the image of capitalist countries.
Reproduction
Their natural habitat is natural conditions, but this does not prevent them from coming into residential areas and settling into colonies there. Regardless of where they decide to settle, scout ants first explore the territory.
Their task is to check the conditions of the nest and check the food sources; these are the main criteria for finding a habitat. When the territory approaches, the old colony begins to move. The main individuals of the colony are the male and female, who have wings; they fly to the new nest almost first.
This species has a unique ability; reproductive individuals can reproduce offspring independently if necessary to replenish the ranks of worker ants. The uterus is engaged in replenishing offspring; it reproduces female and male individuals. One queen can lay 250 thousand eggs in her lifetime.
Not all representatives of this species spend time arranging their homes and building anthills. For example, in Argentina, goosebumps can choose a reptile's nest for their colony; they drive out the caimans and occupy warm housing.
But they don’t stop there; the offspring of reptiles that remain in the nest are doomed to death. Ants eat the eggs, not giving the slightest chance for development and survival.
Regarding their own offspring, larvae emerge from the eggs, which in appearance resemble worms. Individuals at this stage of development are absolutely helpless; they are not able to feed themselves, develop, and even more so survive without the help of working individuals.
The larva must go through several molts, with each molt its body weight increases and its size increases, then it degenerates into a pupa. She is also looked after by working goosebumps, when the time comes to move to the next stage, they help her get out of their cocoon.
Fire ant lifestyle and habitat
Warm environments will be a good source of fire ants. Therefore, they prefer to live in appropriate climatic zones closer to agricultural land, but can settle in the human dwelling itself.
As social individuals, they exist and hunt together. First, they spread throughout the victim’s body through the legs, dig into the skin, and then use a sting to inject a noticeable portion of solenopsin.
Depending on the dose, the victim receives unbearable pain and a wound similar to a thermal burn, or even dies. During a peaceful life inside an anthill, there is a clear distribution of responsibilities: someone builds, protects, nurses the offspring, and is responsible for provisions.
In the countries where they live, to destroy anthills, a lot of money is spent on chemical treatment of land, veterinary control, and treatment of the consequences of bites.
They tried to eradicate nests by digging up springs, but smart females hide in numerous underground passages, up to 1 m deep, and then resume settlement. There are known cases when people moved from their place of residence, but red fire ants remained.
Diet
Their diet is varied and consists of both plant and animal foods. For example, they eat young plants and insects, which can be much larger than themselves.
But they don’t stop there, they can attack frogs, snakes, and mice. If they find the corpse of a large animal, they will not bypass it, but stock up on food for their colony.
Lifestyle
The lifestyle of these ants is not much different from other species of ant families. They also build anthills, forage for food, and reproduce. The only, but very significant difference between fire ants and others is that not one queen lives in the nest, but several at once.
It is also surprising that every new member of the friendly ant family knows exactly where his “mother” is and where the stranger is. The parent is determined by the smell, which is inherent in future ants at the genetic level. And each ant takes care of the future offspring only from “their” queen.
Each individual performs its own functions, some are engaged in construction, others get food, others work as security guards or nannies.
The proximity to such an anthill is dangerous.
Inhabitants of our country
If we talk about the territory of our country, then this species is quite rare, since such living conditions are not entirely suitable for them. Our territory is inhabited by red ants, which are popularly known as fire ants. Compared to fiery ones, they cannot be called aggressive, but on the contrary, compared to them they look very peaceful.
They live in natural conditions, preferring to set up anthills in coniferous and deciduous forests. They are very useful insects, since they are directly involved in the formation of a nutritious soil layer for plants; in addition, they are forest orderlies, since they destroy pests. They do not pose any danger to humans.
Prevention is the main means in the fight against ants
It is much easier to prevent the appearance of parasites than to then spend a lot of time, effort and money on their extermination. Let's look at the basic preventive measures that will prevent ants from crossing your threshold.
Basic rules of prevention:
Needless to say, a person’s main weapon against insects is perfect cleanliness and order in the house. First of all, pay attention to the following areas of the house:
- Bin. Do not allow the trash can to remain full overnight! Take a few minutes to take out the trash and strengthen your insect defense!
- Dinner table. The place where you eat requires close attention: there should be no crumbs or leftovers. Left food is the best gift for ants, if not an invitation!
- Floor. Again, the kitchen floor should be washed most thoroughly: splashes of grease and crumbs often appear here - food for insects.
- Dishes. For the reasons already stated, do not leave dirty dishes for a long time. This behavior will attract not only ants, but also other insects.
- Containers with food. Always tightly seal any food bags, cans of bulk food, or other food packaging. Insects should not have any access to food.
By following these basic sanitary rules, you will protect your home from unwanted organisms, and your health from infections!
Damage from fire ants
These little bugs actually cause a lot of damage. They destroy fauna and beneficial insects, attack their relatives, and attack birds and livestock. It makes absolutely no difference to them who to attack and what size their victim is. They easily attack large animals and even humans cannot stop them.
They can destroy huge food reserves and settle in warehouses and pantries. Very often they climb into electrical appliances, setting up a nest there, which leads to a short circuit in the electrical network, and sometimes leads to fires.
They are insensitive to pesticides and there is no point in fighting large colonies.
There are cases when residents of a building were forced to leave their home because the colony could not be dealt with.
Ants in the apartment
If insects have attacked your home, you need to understand how to destroy the parasites, how to protect your home and at what point you should call the sanitary and epidemiological station employees to solve the problem forever.
If you want to cope on your own, the first thing you will need is patience. You may have to try more than one remedy. Modern insects can adapt to poison, so your ants may be immune to a number of drugs. Fighting insects is like a lottery, you can’t do it without luck!
Is the bite dangerous?
They do not attack their victims alone. The selected victim is immediately attacked by a group, and they inflict numerous stings with a stinger containing a poisonous substance. In small quantities, the poison does not cause severe consequences, but it is very difficult for the body to resist a large amount of poisonous toxin.
Such group attacks lead to the death of a person. If you look at the statistics, in America in one year there are more than 30 cases of attacks by these insects resulting in fatalities to humans.
Household chemicals
Products in the form of gels (Brownie, Rubit, Clean House, Great Warrior) attract ants in the form of bait, after eating which they die. If working ants get small portions of this gel into the nest, then after a few days the ant family will die. These drugs are effective, affordable, and easy to use.
You can use insect chalk on the edges of kitchen shelves, but be careful not to touch the dishes.
But the drugs are toxic to the human body, so caution is required when used. One of the safe ant repellents for humans is Get.
To destroy these insects, several methods should be used simultaneously.
Since ants from one nest can simultaneously visit several apartments located on different floors, they can only be removed collectively, together with their neighbors. The main goal of such a fight should be to destroy the females in the nest. But since the ant’s home can be located at a fairly large distance, there remains hope for working individuals who will bring poisonous bait there.
First aid
If you come across an anthill of these killers, you should know how to behave correctly in such a situation. Remember that the ants that are attacking are the ones guarding the anthill; if they feel threatened, they will fight desperately.
Therefore, when you notice that these ants are attacking you, you should immediately retreat from the anthill as far as possible. Then you need to remove the insects from yourself; there is no point in shaking them off, they hold on to their prey very tightly.
You can't kill them or crush them. The fact is that these individuals smell very well; when they sense the death of a relative, this will be a signal to them of great danger and then their brothers will come to the rescue, which will significantly aggravate the situation. It is advisable, if possible, to keep the bitten part of the body in an upright position; of course, this is not always possible.
The affected area of the body needs to be washed, it is advisable to apply something cold to reduce swelling, and be sure to take an antihistamine. Immediately go to a medical facility for help, this poison can cause pulmonary edema, which leads to death.
Danger to animals
They are no less dangerous for animals; when attacked, the animal experiences severe pain. There is also a possibility of death. If a dog is bitten by such a creep, it will begin to develop pustular dermatosis, swelling and erythema will appear. Throughout the day, the animal suffers from symptoms.
They bite livestock in areas where there is the least amount of hair, so the belly area, ears and face are often affected. If goosebumps attack young livestock, most often this leads to blindness of the animals, in some cases to their death. These insects often attack weak individuals, who are less protected than strong and healthy ones. When treating animals, corticosteroids, antibiotics, and ointments are used.
There are known cases of attacks on rabbits, ferrets, squirrels, owl chicks, etc., all symptoms develop identically. These killer insects cause the death of livestock. When an animal is attacked, it licks the bitten areas in pain, which leads to them swallowing these bugs.
Once inside the animal, they remain alive for some period of time and continue to sting, which additionally causes damage to the gastrointestinal tract.
As you can see, the harm they cause is simply enormous, and in the United States enormous amounts of money, effort and time are spent on fighting them, but, unfortunately, it is not possible to get rid of such killers. Various control methods are used, helicopters are used to spray insecticide, people dig up anthills on their own using special equipment to completely destroy the nest, they pour boiling water over the colonies, but this does not bring results, people and animals continue to suffer, and food supplies are also destroyed.
After many years of struggle and the use of numerous methods, it has been proven that the most effective way to get rid of these terrible ants is the humpback fly.
She does not eat ants, but uses a very effective method of destroying individuals. This fly lays its offspring directly on living ants; they carry the eggs on themselves until the larva hatches, which kills the ant using a special enzyme. The enzyme eats away the ant's head, which allows the larva to feed and develop.
Distribution area
The red fire ant is native to South America. Traveling along with merchant ships and passenger transport, they spread throughout the American continent and nearby islands. Colonies of these insects are found in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Israel, and China.
No cases of infection have been reported in Russia yet, which is explained by harsh winters and the absence of a hibernation period for red ants. However, given the high adaptability of these insects and the milder climate, their appearance is quite likely. In this case, both rural areas and megacities may be attacked.
An interesting way to destroy a nest of red ants and get an exotic sculpture can be found in this video:
